The Shadow of the Cavalry
by AgentMelindaMaysclone
Summary: They said she was the only one SHIELD created. SHIELD has fallen, new information has come up. Melissa May needs to get to the other clones before Hydra. Maybe there is an advantage to being a clone from the Cavalry.
1. Chapter 1

_Name: Melissa May_

_Level: 7_

_Age: No birthday. Physically and mentally 48._

_Place of Origin: SHIELD Lab._

_Creator: Dr John Cage._

_Relatives; Agent Melinda May._

_Melissa May is a clone of Agent Melinda May. Grown to full maturity in a chamber tank. She wasn't expected to wake up as the other three clones that were created before her failed. She gained consciousness 4 hours after she was de-tanked. She had no prior memories but leaned extremely fast of speech and responses to things around her. She came to learn quickly of her surroundings and how to adapt to situations._

_She underwent training of the normal child which was complete within a week. Three weeks for a middle education and a month for teenage education. She continues to grow mentally and matured to her physical age just within the year. From then she went training from the Black Widow, Agent Romanoff. Eventually came to defeat Romanoff repeatedly in their sparing lessons..._

Melissa read over her file again before dumping it down in front of the suppose-to-be-dead Director Fury.

"There's nothing about my powers," She said. There hadn't been a whisper of her ability.

"Good thing, Agent May. There was a reason we didn't put it down. You gave those Hydra agents a surprise. If they knew then they would have taken a different approach." Fury answered.

Melissa nodded, she understood that. Her ability was simple. She could walk through solid objects at will. It came to surface when she fully matured. She fell into the Lab after a nightmare, having gone through the floor. Dr Cage had been working in the lab at the time. The conclusion he gave was the genetic alterations he did to create her activated the power in her genes. They were dormant till she was matured. Only Dr Cage and Fury knew of her power.

Everything had changed when Hydra had burst into the Lab she and Dr Cage was in, he had managed to erase all Data about clones and everything about her before he was shot in the head, killing him instantly. That's when she lost it and fought the hydra Agents, Her ability made sure no bullet hit her. She fused some agents together, unable to survive being attached to one another, they died pretty quickly. Some she dropped through the windows and the rest were sunk so their head were in the ground and their bodies …weren't. To say it short she won.

She was left for a good year till Fury found her, working in a hospital as a nurse. Her experience with Dr Cage had left her with a good few medical degrees as a Doctor. She may not have been an Agent but she was a good Doctor. Dr May. It had taken a while for her to get used to it.

He approached her she had taken him to her apartment she was living at. He had offered her her file and she knew there was more for him to say.

"Where's Melinda?" She asked.

"With Agent Coulson. I know you have been busy at the hospital but I have a proposition for you."

She glanced up to the dark sunglasses. "Go on." She lost everything when she fell. Everything she had been was ash.

"I've managed to secure a base with full resources for SHIELD. The US Military have… changed their incentive for the rebuilding of SHIELD."

"You stuck up a deal?" She said.

"I couldn't with Talbot, not yet anyway. SHIELD assets had been sized from a few SHIELD bases but we cut all lines from the other bases, the Hub, The Cube. The fridge is ruins, the Military bunker busted it to the ground. The plane is the only plane I could get, with cloaking technology for it to hide. Coulson is the new SHIELD director but I still press the orders in places behind him." Fury said.

"You want me to return?"

"Yes. As a Commander. We have one last mobile unit that's I've got ready, should you accept."

Melissa stared at Fury.

"Why?" She asked. "I'm treated like a human being here, not a walking science project."

"There are three people i need you to find."

"Send someone else." Melissa snapped back.

"It's not that simple." Fury sighed, leaning back. "I know you. You think differently to the rest of us, but i need you not to...freak out."

Melissa's suspicions began to arise. Something was missing, What did he know?

"What did you do?" She hissed. A vague idea was in her head but he wouldn't! Couldn't! not before her!

Fury bent away and retrieved three files from his bag. Her stomach clenched.

"You said I was the only one!" She breathed, fury leaching under her skin but took the files from him anyway.

"When Dr Cage corrected the faults, and you were the result, I got curious to see Romanoff's clone, Barton was unwilling to give anymore DNA but Romanoff was just as curious."

"You created three of her?" Melissa asked, opening a file to see an exact look alike of Romanoff in the picture. Only difference was the fact what this clone as a small innocent smile in her eyes. Unlike the real one.

_Name: Natalie Romanov_

_Level: 6_

_Age: No birthday, Physically and mentally 29._

_Place of Origin: SHIELD Lab._

_Creator: Dr John Cage._

_Relatives; Agent Natasha Romanoff._

_She is the second successful clone SHIELD created, after Melissa May, a clone bred from Agent Melinda May. After her awakening she was moved to a secret bunker to undergo training. She had excelled remarkably well, just like Melissa May…_

Her eyes trailed down the rest of the file.

"No, just one. Her power developed after she matured as well, Crystallised or diamond Skin and can change her hair and eye colour at will." She turned a picture to see multiple pictures of the Clone, crystallised Skin, red hair, blond, black, green, pink. Her eyes ranged from all the normal colours to the bizarre, even the pupils could change to round to vertical slits.

"I see." Melissa said coolly. "When were they created?"

"They were created after you woke up but were de-tanked a year later,"

"Are they the only other clones?" She fixed the director which a fixed glare.

"Yes. No more clones. But they went rouge, like you, after the fall of S.H.I.E.L.D. We need to find them, make sure they don't get into trouble with Hydra or any other interests."

Melissa could understand that, she was a clone, she knew how they thought. She placed Natalie's to the side and opened the second one. This person looked to be like an agent from May's team but couldn't place a name.

"Who gave their DNA for him?" She asked.

"Grant Ward, A Hydra double agent. Luckily he didn't know what he was giving his DNA for but he was never alerted to his clone's existence. We wouldn't have cloned him if we knew he was Hydra."

Her eyes ran down the same directed words at the start.

_Name: Gregory Ward_

_Level: 7_

_Age: No birthday, Physically and mentally 32._

_Place of Origin: SHIELD Lab._

_Creator: Dr John Cage._

_Relatives; Agent Grant Douglas Ward_

_A successful clone from Grant Ward. Created at the same time as Natalie and James and was taken to a secret base. He is unaware like Natalie the existence of the other three clones._

His file was just as long as her and the other one.

"He can mimic matter onto his skin. Like Metal, stone, crystal, Water, even fire." Fury answered her unasked question. Melissa nodded and opened the last. She gasped in surprised.

The face looked like Phil Coulson. She knew it wasn't but it surprised her. Why did it surprise her? He brought him back from the dead but cloning him? It made her furious again.

"Haven't you done enough to Phil?" She glared.

"This was before New York, Agent May. I didn't know Phil was going to get stabbed through the chest with a Asguardian staff." Fury answered in a harsher tone. Must have been a nerve point for him.

"It doesn't matter what order you but cloning and resurrection in, it sounds just as bad!"

"I did what I had to do to save a good man!" he was on his feet but she didn't feel at all intimidated by him.

"He didn't ask for any of it!" She was on her feet too. "Yes,you saved a good man, a good man who wanted to stay dead! You can't play god! Not anymore. The dead are dead for a reason! If you want to bring S.H.I.E.L.D. back, bringing artificially grown _human_ beings is not a good way to start!"

"I understand that! But they have a micro chip in the femur with all their data on. So do you! A copy of all the research and data of cloning! Dr Cage couldn't bear to erase everything he put his life to so he put it in each of his creation for safe keeping!"

Melissa was frozen. She didn't expect that. Data… still existed. "So not are we force grown clones but we're subjects of carrying potently dangerous information that could fall into the wrong hands!"

"Letting you know was dangerous."

"Always an excuse, Nick." She spat, sitting down, moving the files to her side.

"They can do as they please after the chips are retrieved. I'm not asking them to join S.H.I.E.L.D."

She scoffed, "You did with me."

He shrugged, "You're the only on I could find, with much difficulty I might add."

"You're Welcome. I tried." She shrugged before turning back to her thoughts.

Yes, getting the clones and talking to her seemed like a dream, like she wasn't alone anymore but she hated the fact more had been created. They were naive of her existence so if she did then they would need proof. She would get them. The only other three clones in the world. She knew they would do the same for her.

"I'll get them, see what they want to do but I get the chips installed with the other one in my body. I can't be caught or contained if someone wants it." She had never been more thankful for her ability. "But that means I'm in control of a different area of SH.I.E.L.D,"

"Yes, if the others want to join the Plane, The Submarine but The Sub for Short." He handed her a different file, labelled The Submarine.

Inside was the layout of the Interior. There was a very small Lab space, smaller than the one on the Bus, the cargo hold had two vehicle spots but could hold motorbikes too, the space behind the small Lab was the same material as the larger interrogation room. There were six bunks, no doubt already built there, lounge, kitchen, a bar….

Very similar to the Bus, Melissa thought.

"Does Coulson know? About the Clones, me and the others?"

"He did know bits of the program but not James, but we thought it would be best to erase everything about it after his resurrection, just to be safe for his mind."

"Right." It didn't sound good in her books but the side effects of his resurrection did play slightly in her mind.

"What can James do?" She threw the Sub's file to the side.

"His body regenerates an advanced healing factor. His body can heal in seconds of a gunshot anywhere to his body, bones take a few minutes to repair. His blood can heal another person in an hour, depending on the injuries. It was only recently before the fall of SHIELD we found that out." Fury sighed, "His reflexes are advanced, speed and strength, enhances senses and endurance. He's a brilliant fighter, people can't sneak up on him, but I know you can."

Melissa nodded.

"I'll do it. But I don't want Coulson to be alerted of our existence. I'll go to them when I believe the time is right."

"Okay. I've also got a miniature Toolbox for you. Coulson has a more detailed one but you'll need this. It has things that will help, 70% of SHIELD files. I know you have somewhere to store it." He handed her a small white box, about the size of her thumb and looked a bit like a stick of gum.

"Where is the Submarine?"

"You'll find a set of coordinates to a secret base called The Ice Cube. It's there. You can get to it by car, a seven hour drive. Precaution, remember. You can use it as a base of operations if you so wish." He rose to his feet.

"I'll need to make a few arrangements before I leave." She mirrored his movements, slipping the Toolbox into her bra.

"And I'll be in the wind." Fury stated. Melissa knew that was obvious. He had his own things to do. She saw him out before heading to her bedroom. She was going to do a lot of packing.


	2. Chapter 2

Melissa started around the base. Her base now. The Ice Cube was very nice compared to some bases she had been to. It's layout had the same colouring and style similar to the Hub but the physical layout of corridors were different, not to mention less glass doors. One person was in the base and let her in. Sam Koenig.

She personally thought he was a little weird but friendly. A vibe he gave off seemed to prove he could be trusted.

"What you think, Commander May?" Koenig asked.

Melissa shrugged, it was weird to being addressed like that. "Nice, Is the Sub loaded with things, we're going to have guests."

"Yep, fully stocked with food, ammo, fuel, weapons and Tech, latest I might add which is really cool." He grinned, "Cloaking Technology is new and calibrated to the Sub's outta shell. Safe to fly without detection."

"Good to stay hidden." Melissa agreed. "I'll see if I can get more people to join up. If anyone comes don't let them in. I'll meet people personally to recruit them."

"Certainly. Should I get of the bunks ready for our guests?"

"Get four ready. I'm not sure if all of them will come but best to have it in case."

"I'll get right on it, Have a good trip." He said, hurrying away on his tiny little legs.

Melissa got back into the car and drove onto the Cargo ramp next to a motorbike and closed it up. The inside layout was different, more black leather on the seats, no glass in the command centre windows which made up for more seats in the frames. A dark blue carpet in the lounge, the walls more a red than an orangey cream she had seen the Bus pictures. She knew the difference.

Reaching the spiral staircase up to the office space she peered in. It was empty, expected, a clean and neat desk was at one end, a TV in the other. She dumped her bag down and began to organise it into draws and the wardrobe. She had signed off from the hospital and cancel any meetings she would have had. Now her time table was full of tracking and searching for three super human clones created from ordinary human DNA. What a fun ride.

As soon as she unpacked, Melissa headed up to the cockpit, running through the diagnostics which came out fine before starting the engines. It was now possibly really worth it to have sat through all that training, piloting especially. She never really found in interest with it but stuck to it for life talents and when it might call.

Now it had.

As soon as the Sub was out the base she input the Cloaking technology into action, watching as the outside of the plane vanish. It send a thrill of joy though her. She was piloting an invisble plane! Not many had that said in their life. Setting the coordinates, Melissa briefly pondered who to go for first before the other two. Her immediate though would be James Coulson because Melinda's and Phil's relationship. It would be expected but Gregory had a higher chance of being caught. Grant Ward was a Hydra Agent. It would fool a lot of people to think he was Grant and If Phil Coulson saw Gregory he'd have him shot on sight.

That seemed to have cleared up her problem. Setting the plane to stair airborne in one direction, Melissa left the cockpit and shot to her office. Her ability getting her up faster than a normal person through the floors.

Opening up the tool box, she was surprised to see it as a hologram, similar to the holocomm but room wide.

"Okay…." Melissa bit her lip for a moment. There was a lot of stuff. Waving through most of it, she pulled up a recovered file.

Grant Ward.

Clones usually worked on the same mind set of their original, she needed to understand Grant before Greg. Understand their thinking….

"I hope they hang in there." Melissa breathed again. Taking a seat, pulling the file closer to her face and began to scroll through it.

Melissa was just flicking through the last bits of text when she felt her phone buzz. She froze for a second before pulling the phone out. Who even had her number

_Jacob Veech._

"Who is this?" Melissa demanded, picking up.

"Agent May. Glad you could pick up." She recognised the voice immediately, of course, she should have guessed.

"Nick." She stated. "I shouldn't be surprised."

"The lines Encrypted. But there's a new development."

"They got a trail?" her heart picked up.

"Gregory. Please tell me you're headed to Portland."

"I'm an hour away." A quick location check on her TV in front of her said that. Good thing she put it up.

"Get there fast. He had no idea but his training and instincts will tell him he's on someone's trail."

"Hydra source?"

"A few insiders." Fury added.

"Good." She hung up and shot out the office, closing the Tool box. With a few flicks and switches of buttons and switches, The plane sped faster, Melissa kept her hands clamped on the stick.

Hydra. God she hated them. Parasites. Sucking power and killing innocent over a long dead vision of world domination. She didn't know how much Hydra knew about Gregory but his power would have attracting their attention before the cloning bit. That would be when testing and experimenting would be endured. She couldn't let that happen. He was innocent as much as everyone else.

Finding a large industrial building, Melissa landed and jumped onto the motorcycle. Not bothering to open the ramp doors, Melissa phased through the doors and down the building walls hitting the empty streets but she went through the concrete to alleviate the force to the wheels, forcing the bike to the surface. The street seem to rise as she did, scaring the life out an elderly couple as she made it to the surface fully.

It was just coming up dinner time so he'd be finding a place to eat or a place to hide. Central of the city? Checking the time on her watch, it was coming up an hour so Gregory didn't have much time.

If she was him, where would he go? Public place, lots of people, multiple of exits. Gunning down an alley, she drove through two walls before hitting the main road, only slowing down to blend in.

"Where are you?" Melissa muttered, scanning the cafes and restaurant windows as she passed. Then she spotted something a little out of the ordinary. A group of men wearing black, one had their hand on their left ear. They also appeared to be looking for someone. Close then.

Keeping her head down she circled to the side, waiting then suddenly all men seemed to break out into a run. They were almost on him! She shot forwards, speeding up, her hand on her gun. The hydra man veered off headed towards a parking lot. She followed after them. In the dark she could make out a small group in the corner surrounded by large cars. In the middle, Melissa could just make out a crystallised body, in a defensive position. He did not look happy.

They didn't seem to notice her approach, probably thought she was part of them. She fired her gun, hitting the man feet behind Gregory. Gun shots were suddenly turned her way but they were nothing to her, not even her bike got damaged. Bullets soon began to ping off Gregory's body and he took the chance to swing, sending one agent into another, their shots going wide and even hitting their team members.

She braked front of him, steering the bikes body to the side.

"May, SHIELD!" Melissa shouted over the noise.

He seemed to recognise her, jumping straight onto the back of her bike, his arms wrapping around her ribs to hold on. His back was bent, covering her. She leant forwards, the wheels span and they shot forwards through a van.

"Hold on tight!" She shouted, a wall appearing. She could feel his breath pause, seeing where she was heading, his arms tightening, she could almost feel his heart thumping wildly against her back.

"GAH!" He gasped, his weight suddenly crashed down onto her then suddenly stiffened like a statue. She tried to see what had happened but she felt the wall pass through them both, the shots no longer flying though her now. A relief.

"Gregory Ward." She let go of one of the bars and touched the man's arm. Melissa could feel the crystal was gone but the smooth texture told her he was a metal now but completely stiff. He had been shot with something, she wasn't a fool to think he was doing for the fun.. At least he wasn't going to fall off. She slowed down as she hit the traffic, weaving in and out.

Now where was the Sub?


End file.
